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Christian  Science: 

The  Science  of 

Salvation 


Prof.    Hermann  S.   Hering,   C.S.B. 


J 


WORKS   ON   CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

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CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE: 

THE  SCIENCE 
OF   SALVATION 

A   LECTURE    BY 

PROF.  HERMANN  S.  HERING,  C.S.B. 

MEMBER   OF    THE    BOARD    OP   LECTURESHIP 

OF    THE    FIRST    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST, 

SCIENTIST,    IN    BOSTON,    MASS. 


THE    CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE    PUBLISHING    SOCIETY 

FALMOUTH   AND    ST.    PAUL    STREETS 

BOSTON,    MASSACHUSETTS 

U.    S.    A. 


jdf^ 


Christian  Science : 
The  Science  of  Salvation 

ALL  thoughtful  people  must  admit  that  hu- 
^  manity's  greatest  need  today  is  deliverance 
from  the  evils  of  this  world,  its  sin,  sorrow,  suf- 
fering, sickness,  mortality,  and  infidelity. 

When  we  note  the  misery  and  wretchedness  that 
still  exist  all  about  us,  the  distress  and  defeat 
pertaining  to  every  walk  and  vocation  of  life,  and 
the  prevalent  bondage  to  evil  and  materiality,  it 
is  very  evident  that  humanity's  need  calls  for 
something  better  than  it  has  hitherto  known, 
namely,  that  effectual  apprehension  of  Scripture 
teaching  which  promises  deliverance  from  disease 
and  salvation  from  sin. 

THE    PROMISE    OF    SALVATION 

So  important  was  this  in  the  mind  of  our  blessed 
Saviour  Christ  Jesus  twenty  centuries  ago  that 
he  willingly  endured  the  untold  agonies  of  Geth- 
semane  and  the  cross  in  fulfilling  his  mission  of 
bringing  deliverance,  this  salvation,  to  mankind. 
The  Bible  declares  that  Christ  Jesus  came  to  de- 

363232 


4  CHRLSTIAN    SCIENCE: 

stroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  and  the  record  of  his 
life  shows  that  he  did  destroy  sin,  disease,  and 
death,  that  he  taught  his  followers  so  to  do,  say- 
ing, "He  that  believeth  on  me,  the  works  that 
I  do  shall  he  do  also,"  and  that  for  about 
three  centuries  they  demonstrated  the  truth  of 
their  master's  teachings  by  doing  these  wonderful 
works. 

The  Bible  declares  that  he  came  to  bring  full 
salvation  from  all  evil.  If  we  think  for  a  mo- 
ment what  this  world  would  be  with  this  mission 
of  our  Saviour  fulfilled  in  it,  with  all  men  living 
in  accordance  with  his  teachings  and  demonstrat- 
ing them,  and  thus  with  all  sin  and  misery  re- 
moved from  human  experience  (which  would  be 
an  inevitable  result),  we  would  realize  th^-  great 
blessing  such  a  salvation  would  bring,  and  how 
far  short  we  have  come  in  availing  oursejves  of 
the  opportunities  the  Master  labored  and  suf- 
fered to  secure  us ;  then  we  would  have  a  full  sal- 
vation here  and  now,  even  as  the  Bible  declares, 
"Behold,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation."  There 
must  be  some  cause  for  this  failure,  this  misun- 
derstanding of  the  Bible  teachings,  and  general 
neglect  thereof,  and  we  shall  be  interested  to  learn 
what  Christian  Science  has  to  offer  toward  a  so- 
lution of  this  great  problem. 


THE   SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  6 

SALVATION    TO    BE    WORKED    OUT 

Christians  believe  that  salvation  is  obtained 
through  Christ.  In  order  to  be  effective,  salva- 
tion must  have  its  underlying  principle  and  its 
science.  Science  means  exact,  systematized,  and 
demonstrable  knowledge  of  facts,  laws,  and 
causes,  while  according  to  Smith's  Bible  Diction- 
ary salvation  means  "deliverance  from  temporal 
evils  and  earthly  destruction ;"  in  other  words,  de- 
liverance from  evil — from  sin,  disease,  and  death. 
The  science  of  salvation  through  Christ  must 
therefore  mean  that  demonstrable  knowledge  of 
divine  Principle,  the  Christ  Truth,  which  affords 
deliverance  from  all  evil. 

St.  Paul  admonishes  us  to  work  out  our  own 
salvation.  This  Scriptural  command  means  far 
more  than  the  common  belief  that  salvation  is 
assured  by  simply  having  belief  or  faith  in  Jesus 
as  the  Son  of  God.  Such  saving  faith  is  vitally 
necessary,  but  it  is  only  the  beginning  of  our  sal- 
vation— its  spiritual  basis. 

Then  must  follow  the  working  out  of  our  de- 
liverance from  evil  on  this  basis,  our  separation 
from  sin,  from  the  bondage  of  this  world,  from 
limitation,  failure,  sickness,  disease,  death. 

"Saving    faith,"    the    recognition    that    Christ 


6  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God  and  that  he  brought  sal- 
vation to  all  mankind,  includes  not  only  the  glad 
acceptance  of  what  Jesus  was  and  did,  but  of  what 
he  said  we  can  and  must  do. 

The  disciples  followed  his  example  and  did  the 
works  which  he  was  doing,  and  which  he  com- 
manded them  to  do.  Their  faith  grew  into  an 
understanding  of  the  Principle  and  law  taught  and 
demonstrated  by  Jesus,  and  they  had  thereby 
begun  to  work  out  their  salvation  from  sin,  dis- 
ease and  death.  This  same  teaching  and  demon- 
stration is  available  to  all  today,  and  our  Chris- 
tian duty  as  twentieth  century  disciples  is  to  apply 
his  Principle  and  get  his  results  even  as  was 
done  in  his  day  and  for  three  hundred  years  there- 
after. 

However  strong  a  schoolboy's  faith  may  be  in 
his  teacher,  and  however  firm  his  belief  that  the 
teacher  has  solved  or  can  solve  any  problem,  the 
pupil  will  not  gain  the  mastery  of  the  subject 
without  actually  working  it  out  and  so  gaining  the 
understanding  for  himself. 

If  mere  faith  or  belief  in  Jesus  is  all  that  is 
necessary  in  order  to  secure  our  salvation,  why  is 
the  Bible  so  full  of  instructions,  admonitions,  and 
commands  as  to  our  part  in  the  overcoming 
of  evil  •  and  why  are  so  many  promises  in  Reve- 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  7 

lation    made    to    "him    that    overcometh,"    espe- 
cially 

"He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things; 
and  I  will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son"? 
(Rev.  21:7.) 

Working  out  our  own  salvation  means  to  se- 
cure the  mastery  over  the  ills  of  this  world  and 
their  causes,  to  destroy  them  by  the  demonstrable 
knowledge  of  God  received  through  Christ  Jesus, 
and  to  establish  harmony,  health,  happiness,  in 
every-day  life.  Hence  our  salvation  is  not  fully 
worked  out  until  we  have  dominion  over  all  discord 
and  everything  that  causes  it.  This  necessarily  in- 
cludes dominion  over  matter  and  its  laws,  to  which 
we  are  in  such  bondage,  dominion  over  evil  and  its 
sensation,  sin  and  sorrow,  dominion  even  over 
death  and  its  terrors.  It  means  to  attain  to  perfect 
harmonious  living,  to  bring  about  God's  kingdom 
on  earth. 

ESSENTIALS    OF    A   SAVING   POWER 

What  are  the  essentials  or  requirements  of  a 
power  that  is  to  free  humanity  from  its  misery.?^ 
Obviously  it  must  be  a  power  that  is  able  to  reveal 
the  cause  of  this  misery  and  then  to  destroy  that 
supposed  cause.  It  must  be  a  power  that  will  de- 
stroy evil,  all  sin  and  sickness.     It  must  be  able 


8  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

to  make  mankind  honest,  just,  loving,  intelligent. 
This  means  that  it  must  not  only  supply  the 
Principle  and  rules  for  right  living,  but  it  must 
make  it  possible  for  men  to  know  and  put  into 
practise  these  rules  and  to  overcome  the  opposing 
power  or  influence  that  hinders  man's  effort  to 
progress.  It  must  deliver  man  from  all  evil  and 
bring  him  into  the  consciousness  of  good  through 
spiritual  understanding. 

The  mastery  of  evil  is  therefore  the  next  step 
to  be  considered.  This  involves  the  nature  and 
character  of  evil,  and  that  we  may  analyze  evil 
intelligently,  let  us  first  review  briefly  what  Chris- 
tian Science  teaches  regarding  the  essential  na- 
ture and  character  of  good  or  God,  of  that  which 
is  real  and  true  about  God,  man,  and  the  universe. 

DEFINITION    OF   GOD 

Christian  Science  declares  that  God  is  what  the 
Bible  defines  Him  to  be,  namely,  the  Infinite  One. 
Says  Moses,  "Hear,  O  Israel:  The  Lord  our  God 
is  one  Lord,"  "there  is  none  else  beside  him."  Says 
St.  Paul,  "One  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is 
above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all."  Says 
the  psalmist,  "His  understanding  is  infinite." 

God,  being  infinite,  must  partake  of  the  nature 
and  character  of  infinity  or  allness.    He  can  know 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  9 

no  limitation  of  any  kind,  whether  it  be  of  time, 
space,  knowledge,  or  power.  He  is  therefore  om- 
nipresent, everywhere  present,  the  infinite,  the  ab- 
solute, the  only  real  presence. 

He  is  also  omnipotent,  as  the  revelator  de- 
clares, "The  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth."  Om- 
nipotent means  the  one  infinite  power,  and  hence 
the  only  real  power. 

He  is  omniscient,  the  all-wise,  all-knowing,  the 
infinite  intelligence,  and  hence  the  only  real  con- 
sciousness. 

The  Bible  also  declares  that  God  is  Spirit.  He 
is  the  one  infinite  and  only  real  Spirit.  He  is  the 
one  infinite  and  only  real  creator,  the  divine  crea- 
tive Principle,  the  basis,  foundation,  cause,  origin, 
of  all  real  life,  action,  growth,  development,  and 
power. 

Hence  He  is  the  one  infinite  and  only  real  Life 
or  Principle  of  being.  He  is  the  self-existing,  self- 
creating,  self-maintaining  Truth,  the  great  I  AM, 
the  being  "which  is,  and  which  was,  and  which  is 
to  come." 

Above  all,  as  St.  John  declares,  "God  is  love." 
Thus,  according  to  the  Bible,  He  is  the  one  in- 
finite, omnipotent,  omnipresent  Love.  Christian 
Science  thus  identifies  the  divine  Principle,  intelli- 
gence, substance,  as  Love. 


10  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

THE    REAL,    MAN    AND    UNIVERSE 

The  Bible  also  declares  that  man  was  made  in 
the  image  and  likeness  of  this  infinite  being,  that 
he  partakes  of  His  nature  and  character.  Hence 
the  real  man,  God's  idea,  must  be  like  his  Father, 
spiritual,  intelligent,  harmonious,  perfect,  immor- 
tal; forever  governed  by  his  divine  Principle. 

Furthermore,  the  universe  created  by  God  must 
also  be  like  its  creator,  must  express  His  nature 
and  character,  and  since  God  is  the  infinite  Spirit, 
the  real  universe.  His  manifestation,  must  be  spir- 
itual. It  must  comprise  the  infinite  ideas  of  this 
infinite  divine  Mind,  forever  unfolding  and  appear- 
ing in  the  perfect  harmony  of  divine  Science, 
governed  by  the  perfect  law  of  divine  Love,  and 
expressing  the  indestructible  substance  of  Spirit. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  the  realm  over  which 
this  God  reigns;  it  is  where  this  man  dwells,  and 
where  this  universe  is  forever  embraced  in  the 
consciousness  of  God,  good.  Here  divine  Principle 
governs  all  in  justice  and  right,  divine  Mind  ex- 
presses all  its  ideas  in  perfect  intelligence  and 
harmonious  action.  Here  divine  Life  is  reflected 
in  perfect  living,  for  divine  Love,  supreme  over 
all,  inspires  all  thoughts,  motives,  and  desires. 
Hence  it  is  the  realm  of  the  consciousness  of  spirit- 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  11 

ual  harmony.  Jesus  said  repeatedly,  "The  king- 
dom of  God  is  within  you,"  it  is  therefore  not  a 
place,  but  a  state  of  mind  or  consciousness. 

THE    NATURE    OF    EVIL 

Thus  Christian  Science  shows  that  whatever  is 
real  and  divine  is  infinite,  perfect,  eternal,  and 
spiritual;  for  in  no  other  way  can  we  conceive  of 
the  infinite  God  and  His  infinite  expression. 

Now  we  can  see  that  all  that  is  evil  is  unlike 
God.  It  is  limited,  destructible,  discordant,  mor- 
tal; in  other  words,  it  is  God's  opposite.  Chris- 
tian Science  thus  shows  that  evil  can  have  no 
actual  place  in  the  infinity  and  allness  of  the  divine 
being  and  His  infinite  manifestation,  hence  it  must 
have  its  seeming  place  outside  of  the  realm  of 
Spirit.  This  suppositional  existence  is  in  the 
mortal  or,  as  St.  Paul  names  it,  the  carnal  mind. 
It  is  a  belief  of  the  absence  of  good.  As  darkness 
is  the  absence  of  light,  so  evil  is  a  negative  con- 
dition, not  an  entity.  To  illustrate:  Suppose  a 
person  were  earnestly  to  believe  that  two  times 
two  make  five.  This  belief  would  exist  solely  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  believer.  It  would  have  no 
actual  existence,  for  the  simple  reason  that  two 
times  two  do  not  make  five,  and  the  belief  that  they 


12  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

do  is  untrue,  hence  non-existent,  except  as  a  false 
belief. 

EVIL   NOT   REAL 

If  evil  were  real  it  would  be  a  quality  or  condi- 
tion of  Truth,  and  as  Truth  by  its  very  nature  is 
indestructible,  evil  would  be  indestructible,  the 
hope  of  our  salvation — our  deliverance  from  it — 
would  be  lost,  and  the  mission  of  our  Saviour 
would  be  futile. 

But  since  evil  has  no  existence  in  God's  uni- 
verse, it  is  destructible,  it  can  be  corrected,  and  we 
therefore  have  hope  of  our  salvation,  and  we  are 
made  sure  that  the  Bible  promises  will  be  fulfilled, 
that  all  evil  will  be  destroyed,  and  that,  when  we 
come  to  know  enough,  we  shall  enter  into  our  her- 
itage as  the  children  of  God. 

When  we  see  that  evil  has  no  divine  Principle,  no 
divine  law,  and  therefore  no  real  power,  we  can  see 
that  it  has  no  divine  authority,  we  can  begin  to 
realize  our  freedom  from  bondage  to  its  falsity. 

EVIL  MUST   BE   OVERCOME 

Those  who  indulge  in  evil  simply  prove  that  they 
believe  in  the  reality  of  evil  and  in  its  power.  Only 
those  who  cease  sinning  demonstrate  the  unreality 
of  evil  and  the  supremacy  of  good  over  evil. 

Jesus  said  of  evil,  "he  is  a  liar,  and  the  father 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  13 

of  it,"  and  then  he  proceeded  to  solve  the  problem 
of  evil  in  the  only  way  by  which  it  can  be  solved, 
namely,  by  denying  and  destroying  it.  Christian 
Science  enables  us  to  see  that  evil  is  a  false  mental 
state,  and  that  it  is  destroyed  through  Christ, 
through  divine  Truth  coming  to  human  conscious- 
ness. 

SALVATION    THROUGH    MIND 

In  working  out  our  salvation  we  must  see  that 
salvation  or  deliverance  from  evil  is  a  mental  proc- 
ess, takes  place  in  mind,  and  is  a  transformation 
through  Mind. 

The  Bible  declares  that  "to  be  carnally  minded 
is  death;  but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and 
peace." 

All  will  admit  that  evil  is  primarily  mental ;  that 
evil  aims  and  purposes,  all  mis  judgment,  hatred, 
envy,  jealousy,  are  mental,  and  that  the  correction 
of  these  mental  conditions  must  be  mental,  through 
education  and  experience,  the  awakening  and  es- 
tablishing of  right  thought. »  Therefore  the  heal- 
ing of  sin  is  mental. 

If  law  is  mental  the  supposed  law  of  disease 
must  be  mental.  Therefore  such  wrong  law  can  be 
altered,  corrected,  and  repealed  by  the  law  of 
Truth  and  right,  the  law  of  God.  A  law  that  re- 
sults in  discord,  disfigurement,  disease,  cannot  be 


14  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

a  law  of  right  or  good,  hence  cannot  be  a  law  of 
God.  Such  a  law  therefore  has  no  inherent  power 
and  no  Principle,  it  is  indeed  no  law  but  only  a 
false  claim  of  law. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  physical  effects  of 
fear,  anger,  and  other  strong  emotions.  Such  ef- 
fects having  a  mentar  cause  obviously  can  be  healed 
mentally,  and  Christian  Science  teaches  that  all 
disease,  whatever  its  name  or  nature,  has  a  mental 
origin  and  is  a  mental  phenomenon,  an  experience 
of  the  mortal,  material  human  mind,  which  is 
healed  by  the  divine  Mind. 

THE    QUESTION    OF    MATTER 

This  leads  to  the  troublesome  question,  What 
shall  we  do  with  matter.?  The  world  has  always 
resisted  strongly  the  idealistic  teaching  of  the  su- 
premacy of  Spirit  over  matter,  which  is  found 
everywhere  in  the  Bible. 

In  "Retrospection  and  Introspection"  (p.  25) 
Mrs.  Eddy  says: 

"During  twenty  years  prior  to  my  discovery  I 
had  been  trying  to  trace  all  physical  effects  to 
a  mental  cause;  and  in  the  latter  part  of  1866 
I  gained  the  scientific  certainty  that  all  causa- 
tion is  Mind,  and  every  effect  a  mental  phe- 
nomenon." 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  15 

The  world  hesitates  to  admit  that  matter  is  only 
a  mental  phenomenon,  because  such  admission  re- 
futes matter's  fundamental  claim  to  be  substance 
and  life.  Especially  is  mortal  thought  disinclined 
to  consider  that  the  divine  Mind  and  its  ideas  alone 
are  real  and  that  human  phenomena  are  merely 
projected  human  concepts,  because  this  means  that 
a  large  part  of  what  the  human  mind  has  believed 
to  be  true  must  be  classed  as  false. 

One  of  the  leading  objections  to  the  Bible  today 
is  that  many  of  its  statements  are  visionary  and 
impractical;  in  fact,  the  endeavor  has  been  made 
to  discredit  Bible  records  of  spiritual  demonstra- 
tion and  to  explain  them  materially,  or  flatly  deny 
their  reliability. 

MATTER  AND  EVIL  INSEPARABLE 

Christian  Science  enables  us  to  see  that  evil  and 
what  is  termed  matter  are  indissolubly  associated, 
for  we  cannot  conceive  of  evil  in  any  form,  whether 
as  sin,  misery,  disease,  or  mortality,  that  is  not  in 
some  way  caused  by,  dependent  upon,  or  asso- 
ciated with  matter.  As  they  are  thus  inseparably 
connected,  being  interdependent,  it  is  manifest  that 
we  cannot  master  evil  without  overcoming  the  be- 
lief in  matter.  This  immediately  raises  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  nature  of  matter,  a  question  which 


16  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

has  puzzled  the  ages.  Neither  philosophers,  phys- 
ical scientists,  nor  religionists  have  been  able  to 
explain  it.  They  have  neither  understood  it  nor 
known  what  to  do  with  it.  Belief  in  the  stability 
of  its  laws  has  practically  interdicted  the  accept- 
ance of  the  record  of  those  wonderful  demonstra- 
tions of  spiritual  power  commonly  called  miracles, 
since  they  are  altogether  incomprehensible  on  a 
matter  basis,  and  this  has  been  the  primal  cause  of 
the  marked  increase  of  agnosticism  and  infidelity 
among  physical  scientists  and  other  thoughtful 
people. 

MATTER    A    SENSE-IMPRESSION 

One  of  the  world's  foremost  physical  scientists 
once  said,  as  he  laid  his  hand  on  a  table :  "The  only 
evidence  we  have  of  the  existence  of  this  table  is 
the  impression  it  makes  upon  us  through  force  of 
some  kind."  The  most  advanced  physicists  and 
philosophers  admit  substantially  that  matter  is 
only  objectified  sense-impression.  The  physical 
scientists  have  made  radical  changes  in  their  theo- 
ries regarding  matter,  and  they  now  practically 
unite  in  declaring  that  matter  is  a  form  of  energy 
and  that  the  atom  is  an  aggregation  of  electrical 
corpuscles  called  electrons. 

It  is  therefore  conceded  that  matter  is  not  the 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  17 

indestructible  substance  it  has  been  believed  to  be, 
but  is  the  way  substance  appears  to  the  physical 
sense.  Material  objects  may  be  defined  as  objecti- 
fied mental  impressions,  and  since  material  sense 
is  unreliable  and  untrue,  these  impressions  are 
falsities  only,  that  is,  counterfeits  of  reality. 
What  is  the  true  nature  of  substance,  or  what  is 
back  of  these  appearances,  material  sense  does  not 
and  cannot  determine.  Only  a  sense  that  can  per- 
ceive truth  and  reality  can  declare  this. 

Philosophers  have  never  been  able  to  account 
for  matter  as  substance,  and  philosophical  reason- 
ing shows  it  to  be  impossible  for  matter  to  exist, 
except  mentally.  Hence,  on  this  basis  there  is  no 
matter,  but  merely  sense-impression  objectified. 

Materialistic  philosophers,  psychologists,  and 
physical  scientists  have  never  been  able  to  do  any- 
thing practical  with  their  conclusions  because  they 
have  not  known  what  is  back  of  material  appear- 
ance. They  have  dealt  wholly  with  phenomena. 
Not  recognizing  spiritual  being,  they  still  hold  to 
matter,  although  the  logical  deductions  from  their 
discoveries  point  conclusively  to  the  non-existence 
of  what  they  term  matter,  except  as  a  mental  phe- 
nomenon. 


18  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 


MATTER    THE    OPPOSITE    OF    SPIRIT 

Mrs.  Eddy's  great  discovery  had  to  do  with  the 
nature  and  character  of  reality  and  the  relation  of 
its  right  apprehension,  the  knowledge  of  truth,  to 
the  human  problem.  In  it  God  is  recognized  as  the 
infinite  Spirit,  and  that  all  reality  is  included  in 
Spirit  and  its  manifestation,  as  we  are  taught  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis. 

Mrs.  Eddy's  discernment  of  the  omnipresence 
of  Spirit  and  its  law  made  obvious  the  impossibil- 
ity of  the  presence  of  its  opposite — matter.  As 
understood  in  Christian  Science,  matter  is  seen  to 
be  finite,  whereas  Spirit  is  infinite;  matter  is  lim- 
ited. Spirit  is  unlimited;  matter  is  dimensional, 
Spirit  is  non-dimensional;  matter  is  destructible, 
Spirit  is  indestructible ;  matter  is  mortal.  Spirit  is 
immortal.  Being  its  exact  opposite,  matter  can 
have  no  real  existence  in  the  realm  of  omnipresent 
Spirit  and  its  infinite  ideas. 

Furthermore,  it  is  only  on  the  basis  of  the  un- 
reality of  matter  that  the  allness  and  supremacy 
of  Spirit,  God,  can  be  maintained.  If  we  endeavor 
to  hold  to  matter  as  real  we  are  trying  to  serve 
two  masters  who  are  exactly  opposite  in  nature 
and  character. 

Mrs.  Eddy's  discovery  of  the  unreality  of  mat- 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  19 

ter  was  not  the  result  of  physical  experimentation 
or  philosophic  reasoning.  It  was  based  on  the 
perception  of  the  infinity  of  divine  Truth,  than 
which  there  can  be  no  other  real  or  absolute  basis. 

MATTER   THE   i^GJECTION    OF    FALSE   SENSE 

Christian  Science  shows,  therefore,  that  matter 
is  a  mental  phenomenon,  a  false  concept  of  sub- 
stance obtained  through  the  physical  senses,  which 
can  testify  only  dimensionally.  It  is  a  misappre- 
hension of  reality  held  by  human  consciousness 
when  uninstructed  by  Science,  an  appearance  in- 
stead of  an  actuality.  It  is  simply  an  imitation 
or  counterfeit.  Spiritual  things  must  be  spirit- 
ually discerned;  the  infinite  cannot  be  cognized 
through  the  finite. 

It  is  not  the  appearance  but  only  the  original 
that  has  power,  intelligence,  and  substance.  The 
manifestation  of  growth,  action,  or  being,  in  mat- 
ter is  but  a  material  concept  of  spiritual  facts. 

The  objects,  action,  and  power  expressed  in  a 
"moving  picture"  are  not  in  the  picture  and  we 
do  not  associate  them  with  the  picture  but  with  the 
original  which  the  picture  reproduces.  Similarly 
life,  growth,  action,  power,  substance,  law,  V^  cet- 
era, are  not  in  matter,  physical  existence,  or  the 
material   consciousness,   but   in   divine    Mind,    the 


20  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

only  cause  and  Principle  of  being,  and  should  be 
so  thought  of. 

CONSCIOUSNESS    IS    EXISTENCE 

Our  conscious  existence  is  obviously  what  we  are 
conscious  of.  Everything  that  we  know  or  see  or 
believe,  all  our  thoughts,  acts,  or  experiences,  go 
to  make  up  our  universe,  our  sense  of  existence, 
our  consciousness.  A  mortal's  universe  is  a  pro- 
jection of  the  concept  of  existence  which  he  has 
obtained  through  his  five  senses  and  through  the 
educational  influences  of  his  childhood  and  youth. 

If  we  look  at  existence  through  the  material 
senses  only,  existence  obviously  seems  material, 
and  if  we  do  not  know  any  better  we  will  think  it  is 
material. 

As  we  gain  our  concept  of  existence  largely 
through  the  physical  senses,  it  is  very  important 
that  we  be  able  to  weigh  and  sift  their  testimony. 
We  all  know  how  deceptive  these  senses  are.  The 
distant  house  is  not  actually  small  because  it  seems 
to  be  so,  neither  does  the  sun  move  because  it  ap- 
pears to  move.  So  also  hearing,  taste,  touch,  and 
smell  are  all  fallible.  In  fact,  the  impressions  re- 
ceived by  the  senses  and  recorded  mentally  re- 
quire explanation  and  rectification  to  make  them 
coherent  and  intelligible. 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  21 

Furthermore,  we  do  not  perceive  truth  through 
these  senses.  Not  seeing  the  solar  system  rightly 
with  our  eyes,  how  can  we  see  the  truth  of  the  solar 
system  save  through  the  understanding,  which 
judges  not  according  to  the  appearance. 

These  senses  bring  to  our  consciousness  only 
impressions,  from  which  we  form  a  concept  of 
things.  If  therefore  the  testimony  of  the  physical 
senses  is  so  unreliable  and  unsatisfactory  it  is  ap- 
parent that  the  consciousness  gained  through  these 
senses  cannot  be  true  and  reliable. 

Note  Paul's  words  in  II  Corinthians : 

"For  our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a 
moment,  worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory;  while  we  look  not 
at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things 
which  are  not  seen:  for  the  things  which  are 
seen  are  temporal;  but  the  things  which  are  not 
seen  are  eternal." 

Why  should  we  continue  to  associate  life,  truth, 
intelligence,  and  substance  with  this  human  concept 
of  existence,  this  false  projection  on  the  screen  of 
materiality  and  limitation,  this  counterfeit  and 
imitation  of  spiritual  reality?  Why  can  we  not 
associate  real  life,  substance,  and  being  with  God 
and  His  spiritual  ideas,  who  alone  are  manifestly 
the  original? 


22  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

Christian  Science  enables  us  to  begin  to  do  this, 
and  it  is  wonderful  what  a  change  takes  place  in 
us  when  we  turn  our  thoughts  from  a  belief  of  life 
in  matter  to  the  spiritual  understanding  that  God 
is  really  our  Life,  and  that  we  live,  move,  and  have 
our  being  in  Him,  as  the  Bible  declares,  that  we 
live  in  Spirit,  in  Mind,  not  in  matter. 

When  we  can  see  existence  as  mental  instead  of 
physical,  we  take  a  great  step  onward.  The  next 
step  is  to  learn  what  is  true  and  real  and  thus  cor- 
rect our  impressions  and  obtain  a  truer  'conscious- 
ness of  existence. 

NEW  VIEW-POINT  NECESSARY 

As  in  the  study  of  astronomy,  when  we  first 
learn  that  the  appearance  of  the  sky  from  the 
earth  is  not  correct,  and  we  are  taught  to  take  a 
standpoint  away  from  the  earth,  mentally,  where 
we  see  the  sun,  the  earth,  and  the  other  planets  and 
their  satellites  in  their  true  relation  to  each  other, 
thus  obtaining  an  intelligent  concept  of  the  solar 
system  and  understanding  it,  which  we  cannot  do 
without  the  view-point  away  from  the  earth,  so  in 
divine  metaphysics,  conceding,  as  we  all  do,  that 
things  are  not  always  what  they  seem,  we  are 
taught  to  take  a  standpoint  away  from  matter  and 
material  sense,  and  so  get  a  view  of  God  and  His 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  23 

creation  apart  from  matter,  through  spiritual 
sense.  Then  we  see  them  in  their  true  relation  to 
each  other,  and  obtain  an  intelligent  concept  of  ex- 
istence. Unless  we  take  this  new  view-point  apart 
from  matter,  we  can  never  rightly  understand  God 
and  His  creation,  since  we  will  always  be  confused 
and  deceived  by  the  erring  physical  senses. 

Christian  Science  enables  us  to  change  our 
standpoint  from  a  material  to  a  spiritual  basis, 
where  we  obtain  a  view-point  from  which  we  can 
begin  to  see  all  things  in  their  right  relation  to 
each  other,  give  all  things  their  true  value,  sepa- 
rate the  wheat  from  the  tares,  the  actual  from  the 
seeming,  the  good  from  the  evil;  in  a  word,  begin 
to  overcome  what  is  unlike  God. 

Mrs.  Eddy  writes  in  her  book,  "Science  and 
Health   with   Key   to   the    Scriptures"    (pp.    322, 

531): 

"When  understanding  changes  the  stand- 
points of  life  and  intelligence  from  a  material 
to  a  spiritual  basis,  we  shall  gain  the  reality 
of  Life,  the  control  of  Soul  over  sense,  and  we 
shall  perceive  Christianity,  or  Truth,  in  its  di- 
vine Principle." 

"The  human  mind  will  sometime  rise  above 
all  material  and  physical  sense,  exchanging  it 
for  spiritual  perception,  and  exchanging  human 
concepts  for  the  divine  consciousness.  Then 
man  will  recognize  his  God-given  dominion  and 
being." 


24  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

WHAT    IS    MIND? 

We  have  thus  far  considered  what  salvation  is, 
our  great  need  of  it,  what  the  science  of  salvation 
must  include  and  be  able  to  do ;  we  have  seen  that 
the  process  of  salvation  is  a  mental  one  and  there- 
fore must  be  pursued  and  practised  mentally.  We 
have  also  seen  that  the  activities  of  human  life  are 
all  mental,  that  even  matter  and  material  exist- 
ence are  mental;  that  the  state  of  our  existence  is 
determined  by  our  mental  condition,  our  sense  of 
things,  and  that  it  is  this  human  sense  which  needs 
to  be  enlightened. 

Seeing  all  things  as  mental,  having  resolved  them 
into  thoughts,  we  can  begin  to  deal  with  them  men- 
tally, or  to  see  how  this  can  be  done,  since  the 
working  out  of  our  salvation,  the  mastery  of  evil 
and  matter,  is  a  mental  process. 

In  his  epistle  to  the  Romans,  St.  Paul  also 
writes :  "And  be  not  conformed  to  this  world :  but 
be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind." 
Transformation  of  consciousness  is  required. 

St.  Paul  further  enjoins  upon  us  to  let  this  Mind 
be  in  us  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus.  This  is 
the  Mind  which  alone  rightly  transforms  and  re- 
news our  mind,  which  gives  us  a  true  concept  of 
existence,  a  right  consciousness.     Let  us  consider 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  25 

at  this  point  what  Mind  is,  and  how  we  can  begin 
to  attain  and  demonstrate  the  Christ  Mind. 

The  common  belief  regarding  mind  is  that  it  is 
that  which  thinks,  feels,  wills,  the  intellect,  or  the 
activity  of  the  gray  matter  called  brain.  Chris- 
tian Science  declares  that  as  there  is  but  one  in- 
finite God,  there  can  be  but  one  infinite  Mind, 
therefore  this  divine  Mind  is  the  only  real  Mind. 
Mind  is  the  infinite  mentality  or  consciousness,  the 
infinite  intelligence  and  Truth,  the  divine  Spirit 
and  Soul,  the  divine  Life  and  Love,  the  divine  Prin- 
ciple, the  basis  and  foundation  of  all  real  being. 
Mind  is  that  which  is,  that  which  expresses  itself 
in  ideas ;  which  is  quite  a  different  concept  from  the 
supposed  activity  of  the  gray  matter. 

What  a  difference  between  this  so-called  mind, 
and  the  infinitely  good,  intelligent,  loving,  divine 
Mind!  And  how  important  for  us  to  clearly  dis- 
tinguish, and  constantly  differentiate,  between  the 
divine  Mind  and  its  manifestation,  and  the  mortal 
human  mind  and  its  beliefs. 

MATERIAL   EXISTENCE   NOT   OF   GOD 

Christian  Science  further  shows  that  material 
existence  is  not  the  manifestation  nor  creation  of 
this  divine  Mind,  for  it  is  wholly  unlike  it.  As  we 
have  already  said,  its  phenomena  are  finite,  dimen- 


26  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

sional,  destructible,  diseased,  dying,  whereas  the 
ideas  of  the  divine  Mind  are  infinite,  non-dimen- 
sional, indestructible,  harmonious,  immortal.  They 
are  exact  opposites.  Hence  material  existence 
must  be  the  phenomenon  of  a  false  human  sense  of 
a  mentality  which  rests  on  a  finite  mortal  basis, 
namely,  the  Adam  dream,  the  belief  of  life,  intel- 
ligence, and  substance  in  matter.  It  is  the  creation 
recorded  in  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  where 
the  rise  of  the  mist  (of  materiality)  is  described. 

Mrs.  Eddy  has  called  this  sense  mortal  mind  in 
order  to  distinguish  it  from  its  opposite,  the  im- 
mortal, real,  divine  Mind. 

It  is  this  mortal,  material,  finite  mind,  the  false 
concept  of  existence  which  St.  Paul  calls  the  carnal 
mind,  which  does  all  the  wrong  thinking;  which 
claims  there  is  life  and  intelligence  in  matter,  in 
which,  and  in  which  alone,  occur  and  exist  all  the 
phenomena  of  evil, — sin,  wretchedness,  disaster, 
disease,  and  death. 

It  is  this  carnal  mind  that  needs  to  be  put  off, 
as  St.  Paul  declares,  in  which  process  the  human 
sense  is  transformed  and  renewed  by  the  Mind  that 
was  in  Christ.  Our  every  erroneous  concept  must 
be  supplanted  with  divine  Truth  in  order  that  we 
may  be  healed  and  saved. 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  27 

PROCESS   OF    TRANSFORMATION 

How  IS  this  to  be  done?  By  knowing  what  real 
Mind  is,  which  Christian  Science  makes  possible, 
we  begin  to  detect  and  correct  what  is  wrong  in 
our  sense  of  Mind.  By  knowing  what  real  exist- 
ence is,  we  begin  to  detect  and  correct  what  is 
wrong  in  our  sense  of  existence. 

Since  God  is  Mind,  this  Mind  is  good,  and  its  ef- 
fects must  always  be  good,  never  evil.  As  real 
thinking  is  the  activity  of  the  divine  Mind,  the 
only  real  thoughts  or  ideas  are  good.  Thoughts 
which  include  sin,  misery,  disease,  and  mortality 
are  not  the  activities  of  the  divine  Mind,  hence 
they  are  not  real  thoughts,  but  simply  concepts  of 
the  human  mind,  or  human  beliefs,  and  through 
right  spiritual  knowing  they  can  be  corrected,  and 
what  is  wrong  destroyed. 

Having  the  activity  of  right  thought,  engaging 
in  real  thinking,  or  communion  with  the  one  infin- 
ite Truth,  there  appears  in  our  human  conscious- 
ness the  Mind  that  was  in  Christ.  Thus  our  spir- 
itual illumination  and  transformation  begins,  and 
this  must  be  continued  day  after  day,  in  obedience 
to  the  Scriptural  injunction  to  "pray  without 
ceasing." 

Directly  the  consciousness  of  the  supremacy  of 


28  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

good  and  the  nothingness  of  evil  is  brought  to  bear 
upon  an  evil  thought,  the  thought  is  destroyed,  just 
as  darkness  disappears  when  light  appears. 

SALVATION    BEGUN 

There  is  not  a  true  Christian  Scientist  on  earth 
today  who  does  not  joyfully  and  gratefully  admit 
that  the  world  is  already  a  very  different  one  to 
him  from  what  it  formerly  was,  and  if  this  can 
be,  with  so  slight  an  understanding  of  Christian 
Science  as  we  have  as  yet,  what  will  the  world  be 
when  we  all  consciously  reflect  the  Mind  that  was 
in  Christ  and  live  according  thereto? 

It  is  well  to  ponder  this  question,  for  so  it  must 
eventually  be,  even  as  the  Bible  declares.  It  is 
only  with  the  mind  of  Christ  that  we  can  ever  see 
God  and  dwell  with  Him.  Jesus  said,  "The  king- 
dom of  God  is  within  you."  Thus  it  is  not  a  place, 
but  a  state  of  mind  or  consciousness,  which  is  to 
be  awakened,  developed,  attained. 

Christian  Science  shows  that  this  transforma- 
tion of  consciousness  does  not  and  cannot  take 
place  suddenly,  but  that  it  is  the  result  of  spiritual 
unfoldment,  the  spiritualization  of  thought,  char- 
acter, and  life,  and  Christian  Science  makes  it  pos- 
sible for  us  all  to  begin  this  work  here  and  now, 
and  thus  begin  to  experience  some  of  the  blessings 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION"  29 

which  are  the  inevitable  accompaniment  of  an  en- 
lightened spiritual  consciousness* 

NEED  OF  DIFFERENTIATION 

As  the  working  out  of  our  own  salvation  is  a 
mental  process,  it  is  of  vital  importance  that  we 
distinguish  clearly  between  the  divine  Mind  and  its 
activities  and  the  human  mind  and  its  beliefs,  for 
the  Bible  teaches  that  it  is  only  through  the  Christ 
Mind  that  our  salvation  can  be  obtained. 

The  human  mind  is  so  filled  with  concepts  of 
limitation,  materiality,  mortality,  personality,  that 
it  is  not  a  safe  influence  to  use  either  upon  our- 
selves or  upon  others,  for  it  is  too  liable  to  be 
wrong. 

Mental  suggestion,  hypnotism,  will  power,  the 
endeavor  of  one  human  mind  to  influence  or  con- 
trol itself  or  another,  these  are  all  the  activities  of 
the  human  mind,  and  subject  to  its  limitations  and 
evils;  indeed,  they  are  constantly  being  used  for 
evil  purposes.  The  Bible  declares  that  we  cannot 
obtain  both  sweet  waters  and  bitter  from  the  same 
fountain.  Since  mental  suggestion,  hypnotism, 
will  power,  are  used  for  evil  purposes  and  actually 
cause  evil  continually,  they  must  be  wholly  evil, 
for  they  cannot  be  both  good  and  evil.  Any 
seeming  good  that  may  at  times  result  from  them 


80  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

is  superficial,  illusory,  and  dangerous.  They  do 
not  express  the  activity  of  the  Christ  Mind,  and 
hence  they  cannot  be  divinely  authorized  remedial 
agents. 

How  is  it  possible  for  any  one  to  believe,  as  is 
sometimes  claimed,  that  Christ  Jesus  healed 
through  hypnotism,  when  hypnotism  is  the  domi- 
nating activity  of  the  carnal  mind,  and  the  Bible 
declares  "the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God"? 
How  could  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God  use  a  power 
that  is  opposed  to  God?     He  said, 

"I  can  of  mine  own  self  do  nothing;" 
"the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth  the 
works." 

HEALING    METHODS    CONTRASTED 

It  may  be  well  to  illustrate  briefly  the  difference 
between  the  attempt  to  heal  through  mental  sug- 
gestion or  hypnotism  and  the  healing  in  Christian 
Science  with  the  divine  Mind,  for  Christian  Science 
healing  has  been  much  misunderstood  respecting 
this  matter,  while  it  very  much  deserves  and  asks 
only  to  be  correctly  understood. 

When  one  person  tries  to  heal  or  help  another 
through  mental  suggestion  or  hypnotism,  his  en- 
deavor is  to  change  that  person's  belief  from  a  be- 
lief in  sickness  to  a  belief  in  health.  This  is  done 
by  securing  control  of  the  patient's  mentality,  and 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  81 

making  him  believe  what  the  operator  wants  him, 
wills  him,  or  suggests  to  him  to  believe,  be  it  good 
or  evil. 

The  operator  himself  believes  in  the  reality  of 
matter  and  evil ;  he  believes  he  has  a  sick  man  there 
to  treat,  and  yet  he  tries  to  make  that  man  believe 
that  he  is  not  sick.  Obviously  this  method  does  not 
get  at  the  root  of  the  difficulty.  It  does  not  get  at 
the  cause  of  the  sin  or  disease  and  destroy  it ;  its 
effect  is  simply  to  produce  a  change  of  belief;  it  is 
superficial  and  injurious.  The  indulgence  of  the 
counterfeit  of  the  divine  Mind  as  a  substitute  for 
that  Mind  is  a  serious  evil.  There  is  neither  God 
nor  Christ  in  this  process,  no  uplifting  nor  spirit- 
ualization  of  thought,  no  elevation  to  a  higher 
plane  of  consciousness ;  the  entire  action  is  on  the 
plane  of  the  mortal,  carnal  mind,  hence  its  danger. 

CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE    HEALING 

In  Christian  Science  healing,  the  Christian 
Scientist  stands  on  the  spiritual  foundation  that 
God  is  Spirit,  and  His  universe,  including  man, 
spiritual,  all  being  included  in  the  divine  Mind  and 
its  perfect  manifestation,  the  divine  Life  and  its 
immortal  activity,  the  divine  Love  and  its  forever 
reflection.  He  understands  the  present  and  eter- 
nal perfection  of  God's  creation,  which  the  Bible 


32  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

declares  was  finished  and  pronounced  good  "in  the 
beginning." 

He  also  understands  the  nature  and  character 
of  material  existence,  and  that  the  discordant  con- 
ditions on  earth  are  but  the  erroneous  concepts, 
the  mesmeric  beliefs,  the  illusory  phenomena  of 
the  mortal,  carnal  mind  from  which  men  can  be 
and  must  be  awakened. 

He  further  understands  the  unreality  of  mat- 
ter and  evil,  just  as  the  astronomer  understands 
that  the  sun  does  not  really  move  and  the  earth  is 
not  really  stationary  and  flat,  even  though  it  so 
appears ;  and  thus  he  knows  that  man  is  not  sick 
but  that  the  patient  is  simply  suffering  from  a 
false  mesmeric  belief. 

He  proceeds  on  the  basis  of  spiritual  Truth,  the 
actuality  of  spiritual  being,  to  correct  the  erro- 
neous concepts  in  the  discordant,  sinning  mind  of 
the  patient  through  the  right  knowing  of  Truth, 
and  harmony  is  thus  established  on  a  spiritual  and 
scientific  basis.  It  is  not  the  thought  or  will  of 
the  practitioner  that  does  the  healing  in  Christian 
Science,  but  Truth  operating  through  a  human 
channel.     To  illustrate: 

TRUTH    THE    HEALING    POWER 

Suppose  you  get  a  bill  that  is  wrong  through 
an  error  in  computation.     You  do  not  endeavor 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  33 

to  hypnotize  the  bill  to  change  it  through  will 
power,  or  mental  suggestion,  neither  do  you 
endeavor  to  hypnotize  yourself  through  auto- 
suggestion to  believe  the  bill  to  be  different  from 
what  it  is.  You  know  that  there  is  something 
wrong,  and  you  proceed  to  correct  it  on  the  basis 
of  mathematical  truth,  or  you  get  some  one  to  help 
you  who  can  rectify  the  mistake. 

The  power  that  corrects  such  a  mistake  is  not 
the  thought  or  will  of  the  mathematician.  The 
power  is  inherent  solely  in  the  truth  itself,  the 
mathematical  principle  involved.  The  mathe- 
matician simply  does  the  knowing  through  his 
cultivated  mathematical  understanding,  and  the 
truth  which  is  reflected  by  that  knowing  is  the 
power  that  corrects.  If  the  mathematician  had 
the  power,  he  could  just  as  well  make  two  times 
two  make  five,  seven,  or  anything  he  pleases,  just 
as  mental  suggestion  tries  to  do  with  the  affairs  of 
human  life,  anything  it  pleases. 

In  Christian  Science  the  healing  power  is  not 
the  thought  or  will  of  the  Christian  Scientist.  It 
is  inherent  solely  in  Truth  itself,  the  divine  Prin- 
ciple. The  Christian  Scientist  simply  does  the 
knowing  through  his  cultivated  spiritual  under- 
standing, and  the  truth  that  is  reflected  by  this 
knowing  is  the  power  which  corrects   and  heals. 


34  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

in  accordance  with  Jesus'  statement,  "Ye  shall 
know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free." 
This  is  a  cardinal  feature  of  Christian  Science 
healing  which  distinguishes  it  from  all  other  meth- 
ods of  mental  therapeutics,  namely,  that  it  is  the 
divine  Mind,  and  not  the  human  mind  which  heals. 
Those  who  know  only  of  the  human  mind  some- 
times believe  that  Christian  Science  healing  results 
from  the  action  of  this  mind,  as  in  mental  sugges- 
tion, hypnotism,  or  will  power,  and  so  they  confuse 
it  with  those  methods.  But  when  we  know  the 
divine  Mind,  then  we  can  see  that  Christian  Sci- 
ence healing  is  Truth  healing,  wherein  divine 
Truth  and  Love  correct  human  error,  and  wherein 
human  will  and  mental  suggestion  have  no  place 
any  more  than  they  have  in  mathematics. 

HEALING    A     CHANGE     OF     CONSCIOUSNESS 

In  Christian  Science  healing  it  is  the  Christ 
Mind  alone  that  affects  the  patient's  conscious- 
ness, it  alone  illumines  and  transforms  apprehen- 
sion, corrects  the  erroneous  concepts,  establishes 
harmony  in  consciousness,  and  then  externalizes 
this  harmony  in  health  of  body.  This  effect  fre- 
quently takes  place  as  a  result  of  the  reading  of 
the  Christian  Science  text-book,  Mrs.  Eddy's 
Science  and  Health.     There  have  been  hundreds 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  35 

of  cases  of  disease  healed  through  the  reading  of 
this  book. 

Such  healing  illustrates  the  fact  that  when  spir- 
itual Truth  enters  the  receptive  consciousness  it 
brings  about  a  change  in  consciousness  and  exter- 
nalizes that  change  in  a  normal  body.  This  is  a 
totally  different  method  from  that  of  any  other 
system  of  healing,  and  it  is  quite  impossible  to 
obtain  such  results  from  the  use  of  non-intelligent 
drugs. 

TRUE    BASIS    OF    HEALING 

There  is  no  other  basis  on  which  we  can  under- 
stand the  healing  recorded  in  the  Bible,  the  healing 
work  that  has  been  done  and  is  being  done  through 
Christian  Science,  save  this,  that  all  reality  is  the 
divine  Mind  and  its  infinite  manifestation,  and 
that  discordant,  material  existence  is  but  an  erron- 
eous concept. 

On  the  basis  of  matter  as  a  substantive  actual- 
ity, it  is  impossible  to  understand  this,  much  less 
to  demonstrate  it.  But  when  we  can  see  matter 
for  what  it  really  is,  but  the  projected  concept 
of  mortal  mind,  then  we  can  see  how  Truth,  the 
divine  Mind,  entering  consciousness  can  bring 
about  a  change  in  consciousness  and  externalize 
that  change  in  harmonious  phenomena  and  right 


36  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

living.  The  effect  of  the  divine  Mind  upon  the 
human  mind  is  always  to  bring  about  harmony, 
supplying  what  is  right  and  needed,  removing 
what  is  wrong  and  not  needed. 

Indeed,  this  belief  in  matter  is  the  veil  of  the 
flesh  that  hides  the  Spirit,  and  which  must  be 
understood  and  overcome  before  spiritual  con- 
sciousness and  salvation  can  possibly  be  attained. 
Christian  Science  makes  it  possible  for  us  all  to 
begin  to  make  substantial  progress  in  this  direc- 
tion here  and  now. 

MRS.    EDDY    LOVED    AND    HONORED 

It  is  not  be  wondered  at,  indeed  it  is  inevitable, 
that  Christian  Scientists  should  love  the  Founder 
of  this  movement  for  having  brought  to  the  world 
this  Science  of  salvation,  this  demonstrable  knowl- 
edge which  affords  deliverance  from  evil,  this  spir- 
itual understanding  of  the  Bible  which  reveals 
the  true  nature  of  God  and  the  power  of  His 
Christ.  There  are  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
people  in  all  the  world  who  are  today  experiencing 
great  blessings  as  a  result  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  teach- 
ings, and  who  are  demonstrating  that  "saving 
faith"  which  alone  leads  to  heaven. 

She  is  loved  not  only  for  the  revelation  of  the 
demonstrable    Christ    Truth    which    is    contained 


THE    SCIENCE   OF    SALVATION  37 

in  her  wonderful  book,  "Science  and  Health  with 
Key  to  the  Scriptures,"  and  her  other  writings, 
but  for  her  consecration  and  devotion  to  the  welfare 
of  mankind.  She  remained  steadfastly  at  her  post 
of  duty,  and  continued  to  instruct,  guide,  advise, 
and  admonish  her  followers,  and  to  lead  on  her 
great  cause  in  its  stately  progress. 

Those  of  us  who  have  known  her  personally  and 
who  have  had  the  great  privilege  of  being  under 
her  instruction  realize  in  some  degree  what  an 
extraordinary  woman  she  was. 

Her  spirituality,  her  deep  love  for  God,  her 
desire  to  know  and  do  only  His  will  and  to  be  a 
faithful,  consecrated  follower  of  the  Wayshower, 
Christ  Jesus,  these  are  the  characteristics  which 
made  her  such  a  great  leader. 

PREPAREDNESS   FOR  MISSION 

That  Mrs.  Eddy  became  the  Discoverer  of 
Christian  Science  is  unquestionably  explained  by 
the  fact  that  she  was  so  earnest  and  faithful  in 
her  truth-seeking,  and  so  responsive  to  the  over- 
brooding  touch  of  divine  Love,  that  she  was  found 
fitted  to  become  the  channel  of  this  great  revela- 
tion. 

Important  discoveries  in  the  world's  develop- 
ment have  always  been  made,  not  by  accident  and 


38  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

not  by  miraculous  intervention,  but  by  those  who 
were  morally  and  mentally  equipped  therefor,  and 
whose  aspiration  made  it  possible  for  them  to 
perceive  the  truth. 

It  was  Mrs.  Eddy's  mental  alertness,  spiritual 
attainment,  and  earnest  truth-seeking  which  made 
it  possible  for  her  to  discern  the  spiritual  idea 
and  establish  the  stately  goings  of  the  Christian 
Science  movement. 

She  did  not  simply  state  her .  discovery  to  the 
w^orld;  she  first  demonstrated  it,  and  then  offered 
it  as  a  demonstrable  Science  for  all  mankind  to 
profit  by,  and  the  great  strength  of  her  teachings 
lies  in  the  fact  that  any  one  can  prove  their  truth 
for  himself. 

SALVATION    PROGRESSIVE 

Christian  Scientists  are  not  surprised  nor  dis- 
couraged if  they  cannot  at  once  demonstrate  the 
fulness  of  this  great  truth,  cannot  immediately 
witness  its  full  fruition,  as  some  of  its  opponents 
seem  to  demand  as  a  test.  They  realize  probably 
more  than  do  others  the  immense  work  that  has 
to  be  accomplished  before  the  belief  in  materiality, 
the  indulgence  in  evil,  and  the  effect  of  the  world's 
hatred  of  spiritual  truth  are  wholly  overcome  and 
spiritual  consciousness  fully  attained.     But  they 


THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION  39 

know  from  the  great  blessings  which  have  already 
come  into  their  lives,  that  by  working,  watching 
and  praying,  faithfully,  constantly,  patiently,  for 
that  Mind  to  be  in  them  which  was  also  in  Christ 
Jesus,  that  spiritual  attainments  will  follow  with 
them,  as  with  others,  in  the  degree  that  they  know 
God,  and  demonstrate  that  knowing  in  their  daily 
lives. 

CLOSING    APPEAL 

Mrs.  Eddy  writes : 

"Glory  be  to  God,  and  peace  to  the  struggling 
hearts !  Christ  hath  rolled  away  the  stone  from 
the  door  of  human  hope  and  faith,  and  through 
the  revelation  and  demonstration  of  life  in  God, 
hath  elevated  them  to  possible  at-one-ment  with 
the  spiritual  idea  of  man  and  his  divine  Prin- 
ciple, Love"  (Science  and  Health,  p.  45). 

The  stone  of  material  sense  has  been  rolled 
away,  and  the  possible  at-one-ment  with  Truth 
and  Love  has  been  demonstrated.  The  truth 
about  God  and  man  and  the  universe  has  been 
revealed  to  the  human  understanding,  and  the 
healing  Christ  is  at  the  door  of  every  conscious- 
ness. 

No  longer  need  we  be  deceived  by  erroneous 
physical  sense  testimony  respecting  sin  and  dis- 


40  THE    SCIENCE    OF    SALVATION 

ease,  for  the  possibility  of  intelligently  and  prac- 
tically differentiating  between  what  is  real  and 
what  is  unreal  has  been  bestowed  upon  humanity. 

A  measure  of  this  true  understanding  has  al- 
ready been  attained  by  many  in  all  lands,  and 
when  we  "enter  into  [the]  closet"  of  Spirit,  and 
"shut  [the]  door"  of  matter,  as  Jesus  said,  think- 
ing rightly  about  God  and  His  reflection,  realizing 
the  spiritual  fact  and  denying  the  material  falsity, 
we  shall  gradually  purify  and  spiritualize  our 
consciousness,  obtain  clearer,  truer,  and  safer 
views  of  existence,  experience  greater  freedom  and 
harmony,  better  health,  improved  morals,  until 
we  shall  finally  attain  that  pure  consciousness 
which  Jesus  called  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

In  closing,  let  us  read  Mrs.  Eddy's  scientific 
statement  of  being,  which  epitomizes  the  Science 
of  salvation,  and  which  when  understood  will  en- 
able any  one  to  begin  to  work  it  out : 

"There  is  no  life,  truth,  intelligence,  nor  sub- 
stance in  matter.  All  is  infinite  Mind  and  its 
infinite  manifestation,  for  God  is  All-in-all. 
Spirit  is  immortal  Truth;  matter  is  mortal 
error.  Spirit  is  the  real  and  eternal;  matter  is 
the  unreal  and  temporal.  Spirit  is  God,  and 
man  is  His  imasre  and  likeness.  Therefore  man 
is  not  material;  he  is  spiritual"  (Science  and 
Health,   p.  468). 


'f.-^r^^^A-', 


The  Christian  Science  Journal 

Founded  April,  1883,  by  Mary  Baker  Eddy,  Dibcoverer  and  Founder 
of  Christian  Science,  and  author  of  the  Christian  Science  Text-book, 
"Science  and  Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures." 

Tills  monthly  magazine, is  the  official  org-an  of  The  First  Church  of 
Christ,  Scientist,  in  Boston,  Mass. 

Svibscription  price:  Domestic  territory  (including  Mexico  and  Cuba), 
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Christian  Science  Sentinel 

fkly  newspaper  for  the  home,    publislied    every    Saturday,    con- 
V  news   items   of  general   interest,    and   contributed   and  selected 

ancit^;,  testimonies  of  healing,  and  timely  editorials  in  connection  with 
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A  moxithly  magazine  printed  in  German.  It  contains  original  and 
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A  daily  newspaper  published  every  afternoon,  except  Sunday,  of 
world-wide  scope,  containing  current  news,  and  particularly  designed 
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The  Christian  Science  Quarterly 

Published  January,  April,  July,  and  October. 

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